A Statistical Model Based on Experimental Results: Correlating Electrical Resistivity with Geotechnical Properties of Clayey Soils

The use of electrical resistivity in subsurface investigation is increasingly gaining more attention among geotechnical engineers. It is a non-invasive method that can provide useful information about moisture condition, heterogeneity, corrosion potential, salinity and contamination of subsoil. Several mixing models are available to explain resistivity of clayey soils as a function of pore water conductivity, surface conductance and tortuosity. However, the experimental methods to determine these parameters are often time and cost intensive. Moreover, characterization tests of pore water and surface charge are not typically performed in a conventional geotechnical investigation. A physically based model is required to understand the effects of geotechnical parameters on resistivity, which may be helpful to quantify geotechnical properties from resistivity measurement. The objective of the current study was to develop a multiple linear regression (MLR) model to correlate resistivity with geotechnical properties. The soil samples included Ca-bentonite, kaolinite, highly plastic clay (CH), and low plasticity clay (CL). Laboratory test results indicated that moisture content, unit weight and degree of saturation significantly influenced resistivity. At temperature 18°C, saturation from 20% to 100% in the soil samples. Furthermore, electrical resistivity was affected by the clay properties such as cation exchange capacity (CEC) and plasticity index (PI). Based on the experimental results, a multiple linear regression (MLR) model was developed to correlate resistivity with geotechnical properties. The proposed model was validated using the experimental results of a different soil sample and the study of Abu Hassanein et al. (1996).

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFP40 Physicochemical and Biological Processes in Soils.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Kibria, Golam
  • Hossain, Sahadat
  • Alam, Zahangir
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Clay soils; Electrical resistivity; Experiments; Geotechnical engineering; Linear regression analysis; Moisture content; Pore water pressures; Subsoil
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; I42: Soil Mechanics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01514853
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-1722
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 21 2014 3:16PM